Monday, February 19, 2007

A Weekend to Remember

A few weekends ago Danny and I spent our sixth quarterly review at Family Life's "A Weekend to Remember" marriage conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a great weekend to strengthen, grow, and refine our marriage.

Unfortunately, I did not take too many pictures, as our time was spent listening to speakers or working on projects. I have included the few that I did take.

Sunset our 1st night in Charlotte
We arrived in Charlotte on Friday afternoon and checked into our Hilton Hotel room. Our speakers were Doug Martin, community pastor at Fellowship Bible Church, and Dick & Nancy Hastings, a certified Christian counselor. They were very gifted speakers, making the hours fly by with anecdotes, humor, and personal testimonies.

We stayed in this Hilton in Charlotte, NC

Friday night's session started with the "Five Threats to Oneness." They are outlined below:

  1. Difficult adjustments threaten oneness. They include:
    - Contrasting backgrounds.
    - Differing expectations about marriage.
    - Superficial motives for marriage.
  2. Following the world's pattern will threaten oneness in marriage. This includes:
    - Only give 50%, instead of 100%, in your marriage.
  3. Selfishnes, and the failure to anticipate it, will threaten oneness in marriage.
  4. A failure to work through inevitable difficulties and trials in marriage will threaten oneness.
  5. Extramarital "affairs" will threaten oneness. An extramarital "affair" may include:
    - Involvement in too many activities.
    - Finding fulfillment in material things.
    - Workaholism, never going home.
    - Pouring energy into kids instead of spouse.
    - Adultery

All of these threats to marriage will result in isolation.

Danny in our hotel room at sunset.

Saturday was filled with topics, including "God's Plan for Oneness," "God's Power for Oneness," and "Understanding Communication." We had several good projects, which we are still referencing and working on.

Saturday night was designated "date night." We were released from the conference early to shower and prepare. Danny and I enjoyed dinner at Sushi 101, pictured here. Followed by ice cream at a cute little sandwich and ice cream shop.

On Sunday we participated in separate husband/wife seminars, followed by a session on "Resolving Conflict." The two hours on conflict resolution would have been worth the price of the entire conference by themselves. We learned practical steps to listening, confronting, forgiving, and reconciling.

Two principles that we learned at "A Weekend to Remember" that we repeat daily:
* My spouse is not my enemy.
* My spouse is a gift from God, so am I treating them as a gift?

We were so encouraged by the truth spoken throughout the weekend, as well as the biblical perspective on the roles of husband and wife. We gathered some new resources that we will be reading shortly, so check out our reading blogs for updates.

Quarterly Review History
*1st - 12/16/05 - Raleigh, NC
*2nd - 03/25/06 - Charleston, SC
*3rd - 06/24/06 - Columbia, SC
*4th - 8/27/06 - Boston, MA
*5th - 12/1/06 - Gatlinburg, TN
*6th - 2/09/07 - Charlotte, NC

3 comments:

Chris & Kristi February 19, 2007 4:48 PM  

Thanks for sharing what you learned! I love that - your spouse is a gift from God, are you treating them like one? - so good! Chris and I have talked about the idea of the "quarterly review." What a neat idea!

Aaron & Megan October 01, 2007 4:41 PM  

Hey, you don't know me from Adam, but I was googling "Weekend to Remember" to find out more about it, and I happened upon your blog. Thanks for the info about the conference. I'm definitely going to go. Oh, and gig 'em, by the way. My wife and I moved to Columbia last year after I finished at A&M (class of 2006). We've picked blueberries, gone to the State Fair, and done a lot of other things that you guys have done. We haven't done the drive-in theater though, so I'm adding that to the list. I hope you enjoy Texas. We definitely miss home sweet home. Anyway, thanks again for blogging the info on the marriage conference.

Aaron Blackmor
blackmors.blogspot.com

Anonymous November 06, 2008 12:03 AM  

Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I'm going this weekend in Sacramento, CA and I'm very excited.

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